The and Sina BY AUCKLAND THEATRE COMPANY TE PAPA

For further information please contact: Harriet Newman Phone: 04 913 3742 [email protected]

What is this pack for? This information pack is to help prepare you for your visit.

1 Front of venue

Te Papa is on Cable Street. The front entrance faces out onto the Te Papa forecourt and has large glass doors and a blue glass ceiling. Above the entrance is a white and grey sign that says, “Museum of , Te Papa Tongarewa”. There will be a very large poster above the entry way of other museum exhibits and you will be able to see the gift shop window on your left.

2 Inside

In the foyer of Te Papa, there is a set of stairs. Go up the stairs, escalators, or in the elevator to the first floor and walk past the customer service desk.

To the right and behind the customer service desk, there is a ramp. Walk up the ramp and at the top turn right and walk along a corridor into the Marae.

3 Where are the toilets?

By the Greenstone, turn right and the toilets are down the hall on the left.

4 Inside Te Marae

There will be mats on the floor and some chairs facing a stage which is at the front. This is where the show will happen! Other adults and children will be there too, everybody is there to watch the show and have a good time. Once everyone has found their seats, music will begin to play. The show is going to start! It’s time to sit, listen, and watch the stage.

5 Show Synopsis

Intro Four friends are putting on a play called Sina and the Eel. There are two yellow screens on either side of the space, they are decorated with orange palm trees. Tommy is dressed in black shorts and singlet. He is drumming on a traditional Samoan drum in front of one of the screens, and Missy (who is dressed the same) is drumming on another traditional Samoan drum in front of the other screen. Cassie appears from behind a screen and introduces herself to the audience. She is wearing black shorts and a singlet with a blue and red titi (an overskirt) on top. She explains that she and her friends will be putting on a play. She calls out to Missy, he drums a little harder, and she calls to Tommy who drums harder too. As they build up a rhythm Cassie encourages us to copy her as she rubs her hands together and calls out words for us to repeat. She disappears behind the screen and the boys start drumming quietly this time and whistling like birds.

Part 1: Beginning of The Eel and Sina Fake show Cassie reappears, moving like a bird and making little squawking sounds. Suddenly she asks Tommy for a beat and as the boys drum harder she goes into a fast hula dance. When she stops dancing, the drumming stops too, and she says, “Once upon a Time…” and then narrates the story of Sina and the Eel. Onetoto appears wearing black shorts and singlet like the others. He plays a silly girl called Sina who jumps onto the stage, and Missy plays a silly eel. The eel chases Sina saying “Rawr”. The eel grows bigger and Sina is afraid. He pretends to be a tree and tricks Sina. He and Sina have a dance-off together. Sina tells the villagers to kill the eel. Tommy appears as a villager, doing a somersault and a cartwheel before killing the eel. Cassie explains that the villagers chopped off the eel’s head and buried it and a tree grew in its place. “The End” says Cassie. All four friends bow.

6 Suddenly they hear a laugh; a, deep, loud laugh from behind them. “Who’s there?” asks Missy. A wave of blue fabric passes by revealing Jono – playing a coconut tree. “Me!” he cries. Jono is wearing a Tongan tapa cloth (ngatu) over his black singlet and shorts, and a cuff on his left wrist made from the same tapa cloth. He has a Samoan tatau (tattoo) on his chest. His arms are raised like the branches of a tree. The coconut tree tells them he is the tree of life, the same tree from the story they just told. He asks the friends if they would like to know the real story of the eel and Sina. The story they just told was not the real story!

Part 2 – Scene 1: The Real Eel and Sina story... “Once upon a time!” he starts. Drums beat, and the tree tells the story of a lonely eel who gains powers from Tagaloa – the god of the sea - to turn into a Prince. All four friends reappear wearing blue capes and join the Tree in singing a traditional Samoan song – Mua Ia – as they present the Prince to the audience. At the end of the song the tree has turned into the Prince. The Prince tells us about himself, eventually saying that he felt like people only liked him because he was a Prince, so he chose to turn into an eel, that way he could do anything he wanted. The Prince calls out to Tagaloa – he raises his hands in the air and chants – “Tagaloa! Tagaloa!” The Prince disappears behind the blue wave of fabric and reappears wearing a black cape over the ngatu, and moving his right hand in swirling movements. He has turned into an eel! The eel tells us about himself; what a good swimmer he is and how he can dive deep into the ocean and find the biggest pearls. One day while swimming he overheard some singing and dancing fisherman talking about a beautiful girl named Sina. The four friends appear as the Fishermen wearing blue lavalava around their necks. Missy is playing the guitar. They perform a traditional dance called Sasa or Samoan slap dance. When they finish their dance, they hide under their lavalava

7 because they think someone’s coming. Is it Sina? No, but the fisherman brag about what they would do if they met Sina. The curious eel follows the fisherman back to their village in hoping to catch a glimpse of the beautiful Sina.

Part 2 – Scene 2: The Pageant to find Sina He sees Cassie wearing a blue lavalava like a dress, and a silvery head piece and using a maraca as a microphone. She is the announcer of the Miss Sina Beauty competition - a competition to find the best Sina. There are 3 contestants played by Missy, Tommy and Onetoto. Each contestant displays their talent but none of them matches the description of Sina.

Part 2 – Scene 3: Eel meets the real Sina The eel tells us that he kept searching for Sina until suddenly he heard singing and laughing from a nearby village. Blue lavalava are held up by Tommy and Missy while everyone sings a Samoan song and Onetoto plays the guitar. Cassie appears from behind the sheets as the real Sina. She is wearing a fine mat tied around her waist, and a red flower behind her ear. Her hair is worn out. It is long. She dances a Siva while the others sing. Sina is the most beautiful woman the eel has ever seen. He goes into the rockpools and finds the biggest and most beautiful pearl to give to her. Sina heads to the rockpools but when the eel approaches her, she is afraid. “Don’t worry” he tells her, “I’m really a Prince.” He attempts to transform back into a prince; “Tagaloa! Tagaloa!” he chants, but this time the transformation doesn’t work. He is stuck being an eel. Sina leaves but promises to visit the eel again the next day. He gives her the huge pearl. The eel is smitten. He tells us he couldn’t sleep that night, all he could do was think about Sina.

8 Part 2 – Scene 4: Eel dreams about Sina Missy, Tommy and Onetoto appear with blue lavalava around their necks and heads. They sing a Samoan song as Sina joins them, brushing her hair. She sits on a seat made from Missy and Tommy’s knees while the eel describes her beauty.

Part 2 – Scene 5: The eel and Sina get to know each other Eel tells us that he and Sina soon spent every day together talking and laughing. He would watch Sina do her Siva Samoa while he sang their favourite song. Every day he would eat more and more until he grew so big, he could barely fit in the rockpool. Sina is surprised to see how much the eel has grown. Onetoto is not impressed by the eel. He appears in a white hat playing the role of Sina’s best friend, a Church lady to hurry Sina to church, and to hurry the eel away. Sina sticks up for the eel listing his virtues before she leaves with Onetoto. The eel starts to feel sick but realizes the strange feeling he has in his tummy is his love for Sina.

Part 2 – Scene 6: Church Missy and Tommy arrive at church as ladies in their white church hats. Onetoto is there too. As Sina approaches - also wearing her church hat and all her pearl jewelry, - Tommy and Missy start gossiping about her ‘friendship’ with the eel.

Part 2 – Scene 7: Sina ends her friendship with Eel After church, the eel and Sina are searching but can’t find each other. Carrying the pearl he gave her earlier, Sina announces to the audience that she can’t be the eel’s friend anymore because people are laughing at them and she doesn’t want either of them to get hurt. She sings their favourite song then leaves. Still searching for Sina, the eel arrives to find the big pearl left behind. He picks it up and finishes singing the song. Sina appears crying. She is sad that her friendship with the eel is over. Onetoto tries to comfort her and proclaims that it must be the eel who has hurt her.

9 Part 2 – Scene 8: The hunt for Eel He gathers the other villagers, played by Missy and Tommy, and as drums beat the three of them chase the eel. They search for him everywhere until they find him with Sina. The villagers catch the eel in their lavalava, and realizing there is no hope, the eel requests that when they kill him, they cut off his head and plant it so that it grows.

Part 2 – Scene 9: Eel and Sina say their final farewell The villagers leave the eel and Sina alone to say goodbye and sing their favourite song together one last time. As he sings the eel walks slowly backwards and is covered by a wave of blue fabric. When the wave disappears, the eel has gone and in his place is a large coconut. Sina picks up the coconut and kisses it, and as she does so the blue fabric wave moves in front of her. When it disappears Sina has gone and in her place is Jono as the coconut tree.

Ending “And that’s how I became a coconut tree” says Jono, ending the story. The four friends come back and talk about the story. They are surprised to learn that the eel was good, not evil, as in their play. Cassie is blamed for telling the wrong story at the beginning. The friends argue and when they aren’t looking the blue fabric wave moves across the stage and the tree disappears and is replaced by the big coconut. Missy, Tommy, Onetoto and Cassie discover that the coconut has marks on it that look like two eyes and a mouth just like an eel’s eyes and mouth. Cassie is left alone to kiss the coconut as the others run off. All 5 cast members return to sing a traditional Samoan song with clapping actions, as they take a bow. When the show has finished, people may clap their hands. You can clap too if you liked the show! The lights will come back on and everyone will stand up and collect their things. Then they will leave the theatre.

10 The cast

Jonathan Soo-ChoonCassandra de la Croix Thomas Ikitogia

Onetoto Ikavuka Missy Pelu

Thanks for watching, we’ll see you next time!

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